Road to hell
The road has held many fascinating possibilities for filmmakers. In Bollywood, Zoya Akhtar glammed up the road as three gorgeous men travelled through Spain in Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. Recently, Homi Adajania’s gang of Goans went on a quest in Finding Fanny. Imtiaz Ali has revisited the theme in Rockstar, Highway and Jab We Met. But the road can also be a scary place — a point of no return. Steven Spielberg’s Duel and Dominic Sena’s Kalifornia present the road as a threatening place. And now Hemant Madhukar has set his latest horror film, Mumbai 125 Km, during one night on a highway. Five friends are caught in an accident. Does the journey turn into something frightening? Veena Malik and Aparna Bajpai star in
this horror film releasing today.

MFF gets Bollywood glamour
This week, Bollywood stars are lending their support to the struggling Mumbai Film Festival (MFF). In its 16th edition, this year has been unique. After its principal sponsor backed out, the festival launched a crowd-funding exercise and — with generous donations from filmmakers, film lovers and corporates — opened on October 14. Imran Khan, Varun Dhawan and Rajkummar Rao are some of the actors who have been roped in to introduce the 16 years the festival that has incubated talent, fuelled successes and forged new partnerships. Sadly, like many properties in our country, sponsors are unwilling to come on board without high-powered glamour attached. Let’s hope the 17th takes off more smoothly.

As big as it gets
It will soon be Diwali and the country will be saying Happy New Year along with Farah Khan and her ensemble cast that has travelled the world promoting their film. There is no ignoring Boman Irani, Vivaan Shah, Sonu Sood, Abhishek Bachchan, Deepika Padukone and Shah Rukh Khan in the film. The actors had the challenge of creating two characters for the film ensuring that each was distinct from the other. In a recent interview, Bachchan said that Shah Rukh’s intention was to make the “biggest-looking film” and it certainly seems that. With a combination of action, romance, dance and drama, it has checked all the right boxes. We are also looking forward to Farah Khan’s special end credits, in which she films all those who contributed to the making of her movies.

Khanna diaries
Rahul Khanna became a cameo king with his charming guest appearances in Wake Up Sid and Love Aaj Kal. That was in 2009. Then he appeared in Anil Kapoor’s Hindi adaptation of the TV series 24. Then, two years ago, he shot an independent Indian film, Fireflies, directed by ad director Sabal Singh Sekhawat. Fireflies finally releases at the end of this month, and fans of Khanna, the darling of Twitter and fashionistas, have something to look forward to. Co-starring Monica Dogra and Arjun Mathur, the drama tracks the rocky relationship between two estranged brothers forced to surmount their issues in the face of personal tragedy. Khanna also appears in the American TV series, The Americans.